OneNote Tips and Tricks (pt. 1)
Summary
In this article you may learn some great uses and features of Microsoft OneNote. If you have any questions about OneNote or if you need to report an issue, please contact the Service Desk at:
Prerequisites
- CPS Microsoft Account
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OneNote Desktop Application
- Note: some of these features are not available for the OneNote mobile and web apps.
Quick Notes: Need to quickly document something for future reference? Make a quick note!
- On the bottom right system tray click the OneNote icon to make a quick note.
- If you do not see the icon in your system tray, or you closed it, simply open OneNote, navigate to ‘View’ on the top tool bar, then select ‘New Quick Note’.
- These notes automatically save to the Quick Notes section of your OneNote.
- If you want to view other Quick Notes you’ve taken, navigate to the page listing on the right hand side of your Quick Notes notebook.
Search: Need to find a note fast? The built-in search feature will assist you!
- On the right-hand side of any OneNote notebook you have, there is a search box.
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You can search for key words or phrases in all or specific notebooks by clicking the dropdown arrow to the left of the search box.
- Note: as mentioned in a previous Tech Tip Tuesday, you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + F to search in One Note!
Password Protection: Need to secure your work? Like other Office apps, you can lock the file with a password.
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Navigate to ‘Review’ then ‘Password’ on the top toolbar of OneNote.
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From there you can set a password and but be careful, if you lose the password, there is no way to recover your work.
Templates: Want to create your own template to fit your style? OneNote has that feature!
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Navigate to ‘Insert’ then ‘Page Templates’ on the top toolbar of OneNote.
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You can pick a template or save your current notebook as a template from within the Page Templates menu.
- Note: some templates have inverted colors when using Dark Mode.
Themes: Feeling the onset of eyestrain from white backgrounds? OneNote (and more!) has darker themes.
- Navigate to ‘View’ then ‘Switch Background’ to swap between light and dark modes.
- Likewise, you can change page colors and styles from within the View toolbar.
Conclusion
There are countless uses for and features in OneNote and Microsoft keeps updating and creating more over time. Stay tuned for Part 2 of OneNote Tips and Tricks in next week’s Tech Tip Tuesday!